Paladins and Good Aligned Folk In War - Are Orc Children Slain?

[FireLance]

[Shameless Plug]
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Please see FireLance's Moral Dilemma Resolution Mechanic for a more detailed treatment of this subject.
[/Shameless Plug]

 

[tonym]

...I play RPG's to be the hero. In RL when bad things happen you basically have to suck it up and take it. In the games, you can go out and kick some ass. You can escape reality for a while and have fun.

Quoted for truth.

To me, this thread is a bit surreal, because I would never bring these issues into a game. I don't want my players to think about what happens to baby monsters. That too real-world.

I suppose, if I was asked by a player what happened to the orc children in the village, I would say something like: During the battle, you remember seeing a 7-year-old orc escaping into the woods, carrying a baby orc and being followed by three or more toddlers. Something like that.

And if the PC wanted to track them down and kill them, he'd either fail at it, or he would find them already dead, killed by a wandering troll or something.

Tony M

 

[Darth Mikey]

Quoted for truth.

To me, this thread is a bit surreal, because I would never bring these issues into a game. I don't want my players to think about what happens to baby monsters. That too real-world.

I suppose, if I was asked by a player what happened to the orc children in the village, I would say something like: During the battle, you remember seeing a 7-year-old orc escaping into the woods, carrying a baby orc and being followed by three or more toddlers. Something like that.

And if the PC wanted to track them down and kill them, he'd either fail at it, or he would find them already dead, killed by a wandering troll or something.

Tony M

See, that's exactly what we would do in one of our games. Whenever we talked about it we would all agree that the survivors would most likely be absorbed into one of the other tribes. No big deal.

I also agree that this thread is very, very surreal. But hey, whatever works.



The orcs attack. Roll for initiative...

 

[Burke]

Maby in Eberron, but in most settings elves, dwarves and humans are not assimilating orcs, ogres, hobgoblins and whatnot save as slaves in regions where such is the practice.

Orcs are being assiminated in at least the human country of Thesk in FR, last I read. It's talked about in Unapproachable East. I don't have PGtF, so I don't know if the timeline advance changed anything, but UE mentions that the orcish armies left in Thesk after the fight vs the Tugian Horde have started to become real members of the country (some working as guards/mercenaries, others as farmers). And I think it even talks about other orcs even immigrating.

 

[Conaill]

Here is the difference:

Orcs: often CE (say 45%)

Some think this way:
CE 45%, NE 22% (one step away from C main), CN 22% (one step away from E main), NN 10% (one step away from both main), other 1%

Some think this way:
CE 45%, other 55% (equally across the alignment spectrum)

Neither. I would assume the % goes down depending on how many steps you are away from the default alignment. So there is no a priori reason why there should be ten times more True Neutral orcs than LE or CG ones.

Maybe something more like this:

CE 45%; NE and CN 19% each; LE, NN and CG 5% each; LN and NG 1% each; LG <1%

Either way, you'd still wind up with about 1/3 who are non-evil.


Remember: by the RAW, orcs tend towards CE, but not strongly!

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Maybe something more like this:

CE 45%; NE and CN 18% each; LE, NN and CG 6% each; other (LN, NG and LG) 1% total

Either way, you'd still wind up with about 1/3 who are non-evil.

Unfortunately for those who really, really want the RAW to back them up on LG orcs, the following break-out:

CE: 50%; NE: 40%; LE: 10%

... is just as valid as any other mix you might propose, and includes not a single non-Evil orc.

I'm not arguing that RAW require all-Evil, all-the-time orcs. I'm just pointing out that they equally don't require Good or Neutral orcs.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

I don't have PGtF, so I don't know if the timeline advance changed anything, but UE mentions that the orcish armies left in Thesk after the fight vs the Tugian Horde have started to become real members of the country (some working as guards/mercenaries, others as farmers).

It also talks about the fact that, by and large, they were left there by the Zhentarim to get them out of Zhentish lands, and that most of the populace suspects (probably correctly) that the majority of them are still working for the Zhents, generally as spies.

In other words, the orcs are really not being assimilated into human Thesk so much as very quietly conquering human Thesk.

All in all, it's a good set-up for adventure, though!

 

[Godofredo]

Is very clear for me than a paladin who is smiting a powerful demon is just making her job, but
I think that if you play a good character the violence must have:

1.- a just cause
2.- good intentions
3.- cannot be directed against noncombatants

That`s the way i play it, so harm orcs babies is a no no for any paladin, is a coward act to threaten or to kill the ones that cannot defense themselves.

Also, i think that a good character must be mercyful.



sorry for the very bad english

 

[Marchen]

An orc baby isn't really like a human child; it's a grotesque and monstrous creature. Orcs and half-orcs generally have a shorter lifespan, and being animalistic they "grow-up" fast and mature to adulthood much quicker than an elf or human. Orcish young grow into blood thirsty savages quickly.

 

[Falkus]

An orc baby isn't really like a human child; it's a grotesque and monstrous creature.

Sounds like a human baby to me.

*ducks*